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Vol. XX-Mo. 5
IMPORTANCE OF GOOD SEED.
If farmers would more fully realize
the difference between good and poor
seed and act upon their convictions in
the matter there would be more boun
tiful crops to harvest and less disap
pointed farmers. They are aware of
the fact that "like produces like," and
if they sow white oats they generally
expect to reap white oats, although too
little attention is given to varieties
that are adapted to soil and climate.
It is as useless to try to grow the large
varieties of corn or grain upon light,
shallow soil as to attempt to keep the
heavy Durham cattle and Cotswold
sheep upon deteriorated hill pastures.
The crop should be adapted to the soil
as well as tue animals to the pasture
feed.
The main suggestion we have to
make upon this matter is the import
ance of planting and sowing good seed.
This means not only seed that is true
to name but seed that has the vitality
to germinate and grow a strong, heal
thy plant. It often happens that seed
has sufficient powers of germination
to sprout and start to grow but lacks
the inherent vigor to produce a strong
stalk and either succumbs after a brief
existence or continues through the
season yielding only a fraction of the
crop a healthy plant would have pro
duced. The presence of such seed in
that sown or planted is a loss in pro
portion to its presence and often re
duces the yield to such an extent as
to cause a loss in the growing of the
crop instead of a profit and the cause
is unknown to the farmer.
It is a serious mistake for any
farmer to neglect to obtain his garden
and field seed until the time of putting
it in the ground. This is often done
by otherwise thoughtful and prudent
farmers, .after the land is plowed
and the manure applied while the
hired man is harrowing it the boy is
sent to the nearest store for the seed.
If grain is to be planted the neighbor
hood is ransacked until a supply is
found when it is taken home and
planted without regard to variety or
germinating power. If the boy fails
to find the seed wanted at the store,
other stores are visited or a supply is
ordered by telephone from the nearest
city. This is not always the mode of
procedure by any means but it is the
method employed more frequently than
is supposed by people in general and
those farmers adopting this course
wonder at the end of the year why
there isn't more money in farming.
Samples of seed to be purchased
should be obtained and tested. Not
A JOURNAL OF THE LAND AND THE HOME IN THE NEW WEST.
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, MAR. I, 1903.
only should the per cent of seed germ
inating be noted but also the vigor
with which the sprouts start. Moisture
and warmth are the chief ingredients
needed to secure germination. Some
seed will germinate at a temperature
of 40 degrees but a more favorable
temperature for most seed is from 60
to 80 degrees. It does not require any
elaborate arrangement to make the
test, as putting the seed between two
pieces of moistened cloth kept in a
warm place will accomplish the pur
pose.
In purchasing seed that has not
been tested there should be suspicion
of any seed offered at an unusually
low price. There is nothing deserv
ing of more severe condemnation thttn
offering for sale seed that is lacking
in powers of germination. And yet
it' is done year after year and farmers
Wfl. F. IZETT.
buy at a low price. Such business not
only causes the loss of the money paid
for seed but causes the loss of labor
and use of land. Many failures of
crops attributed to unfavorable season
are really due to the sowing or plant
ing of inferior seed. This matter is of
sufficient importance to be given im
mediate and careful attention.
The same principle applies to garden
seed, only that the testing can gener
ally be dispensed with by purchasing
early of reliable seedsmen. It is the
height of folly to wait until the garden
is ready to plant and then rush to the
nearest grocery store and get such
seed as can be had without regard to
the reliability of the seedsman whose
name is on the package and who per
haps had no more to do with the grow
ing or packing of the seed than the
farmer purchasing t'ne seed. Look
Subscription $1 Per Year
Worth Two Gold Dollars
over the catalogues of reliable seeds
men at once, select and order what is
needed and when planting time comes
you will be prepared in the matter of
seed, which is an important matter,
and when the vegetables and other
crops are ready for the table you will
not be disappointed in them.
Having reached home from a tew
goat ranches, I feel like telling your
readers who are new in the business
a few of the main things to observe
when they want to buy goats. Be
sure to convince yourselves that no
bad, coarse bucks have been used
among the flocks that you want to
buy. It is a good deal like tearing
down and tramping into the dirt what
has been built up for many years of
hard labor and faithful care when a
goat man allows a low grade buck to
run with his fine does. A fine buck
that is in every respect eligible to reg
istration has something majestic
about him, while one of those low
grade bucks remind me of the low
down, pestiferous profligate. This low
grading shows plainly in the young
male kids, while the kids of a real
fine buck have something docile and
lovely about them. Every goat man
will agree with me when I say that
there is something most lovely about
a real fine Angora kid. The buyer
should see that the buck which has
been used has fine, silky hair all over
his body, also along the center of his
back and on the thigh and next to
the tail, and that the fine long hair
covers the whole front part of the
neck clear up to his throat and around
his ears. Most goat men prefer the
long, broad ears that hang down
straight, but there are many excellent
Angora goats with the small pinch
ears or, as they are sometimes called,
quinch ears. These small ears are
so small sometimes that it is impos
sible to earmark such goats. It is a
well-known fact that those small-eared
goats are, in nearly all cases, extra
heavy shearers, and their fleeces al
ways very fine and lustrous, of long
staple and very silky. The whole
make-up should be attractive, with a
graceful bearing. The head should be
carried high, the eyes should be large
and wide-awake. The head and horns
should be much smaller and of more
graceful shape than of the low grade
buck. The beard should be small, the
head should not look clumsy, but the
forehead to the nose the profile should
be dished. The whole body, as seen
from the side, should present as much
as possible a rectangular form.